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Earth could be under strain, however optimism persists. A new award from the interdisciplinary festival the Starmus festival aims to encourage people to take action.

The Starmus Jane Goodall Earth medal will be given in memory of the celebrated scientist and conservationist who passed away this year. It seeks to acknowledge those who advocate for the natural world.

Award Details

Initial honorees are slated for announcement at the Starmus VIII festival in Tenerife and La Palma, scheduled from October 17th to 22nd the coming year.

It was shared that Goodall, who was a member of the festival's board, had supported the award’s creation. “The idea of having this award, and the festival being tasked with organising it, was Jane's wish,” a representative said. “Her desire was she would like for this to occur. This is likely because of the unique connection she had with us.”

“The Starmus Jane Goodall Earth medal will recognize enduring projects carried out to make our world a better place for people, animals and the environment and foster motivation to carry on that work,” commented a relative.

Structure and Vision

One of the founders of Starmus noted that the medal – unveiled at a prestigious venue – will likely have multiple categories.

“The intent is for it to be very much similar to the Stephen Hawking medal honoring scientific outreach that we created a decade past,” it was explained. Jane Goodall herself received of that very medal.

Expressing concern about the future for Earth, one figure remarked, “To be truthful, it's challenging to maintain optimism. Present governance in one major nation represents a dismissal of evidence. So this undermines global initiatives.”

“To be honest, things don’t look very good which means we need to commence reconsidering, more deeply regarding the impact of human activity. This concern encompasses not only climate change, that’s the whole way in which we interact with our environment.”

Inspiring Change

Consequently, observers believe this is an opportune moment to follow Jane Goodall's legacy. “It is believed that in bestowing the prize, the focus will be on this core philosophy of Jane’s – which made her priority, to change the way we treat wildlife with which we share the planet.”

Another key issue at present is the proliferation of disinformation. The focus of next year’s Starmus festival will be “the pursuit of factual understanding”.

“It has become apparent that factual reality is becoming a matter of debate where political interests are involved. And it’s an alarming trend,” it was said. “The climate science remains a scientific discipline; it is impossible to allow interference by political agendas in climate science.”

Hope and Determination

The aspiration is that the medal will spur concrete steps. “It focuses on inspiring individuals to engage and to care and to strive in that direction, truly. Regardless of if we feel hopeful, we must look at doing all that is possible,” it was added. “Accept the possibility of failure, but you still have to work towards succeeding.”

A family member engaged in environmental protection expressed optimism that “given direction and once enabled, humans can be conscientious guardians of Earth”, citing the work of an institute that, in addition to its projects, assists young people get involved locally, wildlife, and the natural world.

“As my late grandmother often emphasized, our daily actions have an impact and the responsibility lies with us what type of impact we make,” he said. “We still have an opportunity and this medal will give encouragement and increase understanding about constructive efforts currently in progress.”